Winsted-Lester Prairie Journal, Dec. 31, 2001

We all have our resolutions in mind . . . or do we?

It's that time again, with a new year just around the corner
and another chance to improve on our lives as we make our New Year's resolutions
once again.

What kind of resolutions do you plan on making this year?
My resolution for the year 2002 is to not make anymore empty, fruitless
resolutions.

Not that I don't have plenty of things in my life that
I can improve upon. I promise you, that's certainly not the case.

Instead, I am planning to take an alternate route this
year. Rather than trying to come up with a list that I need to tackle throughout
the whole year, I am vowing to take each and every "resolution"
as it comes and address it immediately.

I have found that when I make a bunch of resolutions, none
of them seem to get done. If I try to change one small thing, I have a much
better chance of actually doing it.

In other words, I am going to work on my faults one at
a time, as they surface, rather than try to do an entire personality change
over night. So, I guess, indirectly, my resolution is to stop procrastinating.

How many people make unreasonable demands on themselves
this time of the year? You can't expect to change yourself overnight.

If it were that easy, there would be many more happy, well
adjusted, and thin people in the world.

The following is a list of the top 10 New Years resolutions
from adults around the world:

Top 10 real New Years resolutions

10. Become a better person

9. Be more creative

8. Eat better

7. Be more patient with people

6. Exercise more

5. Become more organized

4. Find a better job

3. Save more money

2. Stick to a budget

1. Lose weight

I can honestly say that if I were making resolutions this
year, I would need to make most of those.

In addition to the real resolutions that we are making,
there are also resolutions for different, more specialized, groups of people.
The following are a few more "contemporary and specific" New Year's
resolutions:

Top 10 resolutions for computer geeks

10. I will not "e-mail hug, throw e-snowballs, or
e-tag" anyone.

9. I will stop sending e-mail to my spouse.

8. I resolve to work with neglected children . . . my own.

7. I will answer my snail mail with the same enthusiasm
I answer my e-mail . . . even the bills.

6. When I subscribe to a news group or mailing list, I
will read all the mail I get from it.